Do you know what I know? (click me) Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, ...

Here are some various links on the sale of the A's to Lewis Wolff. The ticket price is rumored to be at $180 Million, almost double what Schott y Hoffman paid for it 10 years ago - depending on which reporter you read and believe.

By Persona non grata, Rick Hurd of the CONTRA COSTA TIMES.

Jeff Fletcher of THE PRESS DEMOCRAT has two cents and spends it.

Tim Casey of the SACRAMENTO BEE notes that Wolff will only own 10 percent of the team.

John Shea of the Chronicle is an idiot and proves so in the opening paragraph:

"Major League Baseball approves the sale of the Athletics to a group headed by Lewis Wolff. Fans hope he'll be willing to keep the team's top players -- and keep the club in Oakland.."
- emphasis is mine, but the second period is the Chronicle.

Josh Suchon has an article and a pic of Wolff




Here's MLB's Press Release.

Here's the AP's effort via USA Today via JANIE McCAULEY...pity, no colored graph.

What you really need to know is that Kaiser Bud Selig doesn't call for a vote unless he gets unanimous decisions one way or the other. The approval of the sale is basically a back of the hand gesture until Wolff decides to begin making waves, if any. The paperwork still needs to be signed and Schott y Hoffman still need to have their moment in the sun.

There are developments on the horizon, including the actual majority owner, John Fisher of the Gap family fortune ("cheap fabric and dim lighting - that's how you move merchandise..." - Morty Seinfeld), into the team that may or may not be a path toward a new stadium.

From Yahoo! News

It's pretty sad when a sedentary elephant still gets more exercise than the average U.S. child.

Bah!

By the way, we're back from Arizona and there are enough issues right now to make a steam engine melt. I have to concentrate on that pesky day job thing for another few hours, but then I'll have oodles of time to relay information and let you ponder questions.

One of the many you should be asking yourself as an A's fan is; "Do I REALLY think a new baseball only facility in Oakland will make a difference?"

I do have a novel solution to the A's gravitational pull toward San Jose.

Ready?

The city of Oakland, the Coliseum Board and county of Alameda just lost $150 Million in the last several years trying to appease Al Davis and the Raiders. Now, because of their inability to manage themselves, the A's might be lured away to the South Bay.

How about this - the city of Oakland, Coliseum Board and County of Alameda recoup all of their loses and expenses by selling San Jose the rights to the Oakland/Los Angeles/Irwindale/Sacramento/Hollywood/Oakland Raiders. The $200 Million or so would be just about enough to match costs to refurbish the coliseum or begin construction in Jack London Square.

Yah, I know. Making too much sense causes problems. But, ridding Oakland of Al Davis seems like a noble exercise. Further, it's one thing to ask a Raiders fan to drive 45 miles (90 minutes on the freeway) to San Jose for a Raiders home game 8 times in an NFL season - it's quite another to ask an Oakland A's fan to cover that same ground 81 times for A's home games in an MLB season.

An NFL franchise give San Jose and it's poor, deprived and egocentric mayor the label of "professional" he seems to think it needs. As if being the backyard of Silicon Valley were not enough. Plus, it gives people in Oakland less of a reason to wonder where their tax dollars are being spent.

Below are some of the pics I took while wandering around Sunday during some simulated games at Papago Park. They are H-U-G-E, so let them load. Most are bad from a technical aspect and all are horrible from an artistic standpoint. They are devoid of charm, stripped of sophistication, and they took away the way I wear my hat. No, no, they can't take that away from me.

But, you see how close you can get at the Spring Training Facility versus paying gobs of money to watch 1/3 of a major league spring game and 2/3 of a cluster(ahem) in the later innings.

Yah, the A's are playing bad baseball right now.

The Bench

More of the Bench

Danny Putnam

Inside the 'Dugout'

More 'Inside the Dugout'

The Return of the Curse of More of Inside the Dugout's Ghost

Some guy who pitches with his left hand

Some guy who pitches with his right hand

Some other guy who pitches with his right hand

Stomper's Pic on the Rightfield wall

That's Clinton Myers leading off 2nd base

Some guy

Some other guy

Some guy at the plate who looks really familiar

Dustin Majewski

Not sure...

This was shot from behind the rightfield wall, where Stomper is

Can't tell who that is

Pitchers talking about defense

Clinton Myers

There are three minor leaguers wearing 54, you tell me

Don't know

Steve Jackson bending at the waist, bad form for a catcher

I want to say that's Eric Kubota with the lads

I still want to say that's more of Kubota with the lads

Just in case you've never tasted green chain-link fencing (it's NOT minty)

Some LH hitter, Jack Cust, I think

Andrew Beattie, I think

Andrew Beattie, I think 2

Andrew Beattie, I think 3

Andrew Beattie, I think 4

Andrew Beattie, I think 5

Andrew Beattie, I think 6

No Longer Andrew Beattie, I know

More chainlink fencing, oh, and Matt Watson

Matt Watson

More Matt Watson

I can't believe this guy can't get a job in the big leagues, or even a chance at a job

You would think I'd make a note of the guy with the dreds

Pfft, water

The funny thing is, the minor league guys pick up after themselves

Matt Watson and I assume a hockey puck

Hangin' at the cage, waitin' to swing

Matt being impatient

Cust and Brant "That Guy is a Freak" Colamarino

Hey.

I have been trying in vain for the last week to connect with David Forst, Oakland's assistant GM. I'm heading out to the Spring Training Facility rather than head to the game with the Cubs at Hohokam. Cubs games are a nuisance.

I did want to thank a lot of people for the email over the last few weeks and the high number of hits here at EiO in the past few days. Over 1000 by Noon yesterday. Apparently, I don't really need to force EiO and that people will come if I just keep posting. Huh. Odd.

Some of you have requested a comments area. I'm not a fan of comments sections for EiO presently (love using that word), as it takes way too much effort to keep the comments on track and focused, unlike my laser trained writing style (sic).

Others have even mentioned they have never heard of an A's specific blog. Great to know my marketing research (well, none) was put to good use.

Kerry's pics are probably not going to hit the net until Sunday at the earliest. She's got formatting to do and she uses a MAC. Plus, she has her own way of doing things. I'll see if I can wrestle away the pics I took with her camera on Sunday and post those tonight.

I've been in touch with James Click about ding some analysis on batting order for the A's for the past three years and for 2005. Yes, I am going to ask about using Dan Johnson and Matt Watson in spots.

Other issues I'm currently working on include a Scoresheet League team I own with Stephen Shelby (Giants Diary) and the Silent Benefactor, David Grundler. This is my first time owning a team, but, Last year Joe Sheehan was busy and asked me to draft in his place (I believe the term for a in lieu of drafter is 'sucker'). I had a great time, even though I was working the graveyard shift this time last year and the draft took all bloody stinking day. By the final rounds of the massacre I was drafting former Vice Presidents, rulers of medieval Europe and Emperors of China. I think Qin Shi Huang-di, the only first, was a great coup.

Anyway.

I'll be bothering you with Scoresheet info in the months to come. May the Student Loan Sharks be triumphant, or at least, not embarrass the three of us.

It's been a long week and a day, or something. I'm sitting here burning data discs for a few people (I take my DigiDice EVERYWHERE) in the hotel room and perusing the day in 'news' online. I did laundry downstairs earlier. These Extended Stay places are great if you can get the weekly rate (only about $50.00 a night). I had some time to kill so I did something dangerous; I started pacing. When I pace, I think. And when I think, it gets ugly.

Let's take a few topics off the table regarding MLB:

• Wayne "Explainin'" Hagin (click me)

A perfect example of how deeply people do not understand the steroids, performance enhancing drugs, over the counter supplement issue(s). Hagin is an idiot. But, so is Don Baylor. Ask Don Baylor if he ever used an illegal substance in his career. A little something now and then to 'get up' for a game. Something to dull the aches and pains. You remember Baylor, the man who was hit by 267 pitches (he's 3rd on the All Time list for HBP) in his playing career. Ask him if he ever skirted the rules of baseball. And would you believe his denial? The sacred cows of sports need to exit the floor.


Is hagin any different from any of the other morons within the inner circle of baseball? No. But, his attorney should have had him state in his press realease that "I am sorry, I am an idiot". How can you sue someone for libel or slander if they confess to being an idiot? Who takes an idiot seriously? Keep the political jokes to a minimum, please.


• Don't Fehr the Reaper - More Cowbell (click me)

Donald Fehr says, "The biggest deterrent is exposure. Once that happens, that costs all kinds of things in the job." Yah, that's great Donald. So, the first time a player is 'outed' for any player enhancing drugs they will be 'publicly scorned'.


First, that didn't really work in the NFL (name three pro bowlers who have tested positive for steroids). Second, that won't go over well as the Player's Union and the Player's Agent will cry for appeal on the grounds of an invasion of privacy, there will be lawsuits and the Feds will be involved as HIPAA violations will be explained (the PEDs the player took were prescribed by a doctor).


The team, meanwhile, depending on the player's stature, will try and release the player or demote them to the minor leagues or even keep the player off the field and lower their value. Once that happens, the lawsuits will begin on grounds of discrimination in the workplace. The substances are a form of abuse and the player is an addict who needs help - or some such defense.


When the player can't get a spot on a roster because they previously tested positive, or false-positive, more lawsuits will be filed...to what extent? MLB drops their testing policy altogether, or takes out the gnashing gums of an already toothless testing policy.


Fehr isn't stupid, however, Kaiser Selig is. Selig can't see past today's headlines or the mirror, for that matter.


• Barry Bonds' pity party (click me)

Does anyone actually care what this jackass says, anyway? Barry Bonds has always been an athlete, oh, sorry, he calls himself an 'entertainer' (has for many years), who has nothing to say, ever. He's the Robin Williams of sports, idiots think it's clever and inventive and original, when in fact it's the same act from 20 years ago. And sportswriters eat it up when he speaks about 'his family'. Not sure if that includes his ex-wife.


Here's the kicker kids; according to the latest CBA with MLB a player on the Disabled List can not be tested for steroids or performance enhancing drugs. I might be out on a limb with this, but, I am pretty sure the tree has already been felled on this issue.


So Bonds sits out a few weeks and has the last laugh as the media keeps its distance from him personally, but keeps writing stories about him. Eventually, Bonds will see his shadow and it will mean 6 more weeks of rehab until he is ready to come back.


That, or his family will get sick of the unbearable uberjerk being home all the time and do everything they can to get him back out to the ballpark as often as possible.

Here's one of those lingering questions to ponder; would Barry Bonds be the performer on the filed if he were not such a jerk? Would Bonds suffer the zap of energy as other athletes from staying out late at night and having a few (dozen) drinks and chasing skirts? Does Bonds really benefit by being a loner because nobody can stand him?


• I am REALLY sick of this (click me)

I sent several emails to Yahoo! asking for an explanation. I got a few auto-generated responses, which did nothing to calm me or answer my questions. It's ridiculous. I'm an A's fan living in Sacramento, California. Why am I being bombarded with San Francisco Giants related Yahoo! ads when Oakland is physically closer?

For those of you who are coming from Baseball Prospectus, here are links to some of my old ramblings on catcher's. Spelling errors and all. And, for some of you A's fans, check the dates on the posts and then check some other sites when they had their "ideas".

BACKSTOP BLUES

CATCHER DRIFT

GET ON WITH IT

RISE OF THE MULTIFUNCTIONAL CATCHER

THE MULTIFUNCTIONAL CATCHER
PART 3: LOOKING FOR THE A's ANSWER

Also, another great note from the AP blunder from yesterday (Byrnes non-existant run scoring triple - that was Jermaine Clark); the game today is not a night game, it's at 1:05.

So, here are a few pics from today's game. The camera I used is a Sony CyberSot that I inherited from my step-father, he used it to catalog his Roman Coins. So, it's not the best possible tool for shooting sports. I generally tote it around and then forget I even have it. I'm going to start using it more for interviews and the like. Maybe I should have had it when I ate dinner next to Rich Harden and his family Sunday.

Bah.

These pics should make you appreciate Kerry's even more, when she gets done formatting them.

March 22nd, 2005 A's vs Rangers - Surprise, AZ

Keith Ginter and Bobby Kielty

KG and BK

My Brother

My Mother and my brother

Ron Washington

More Wash

Eric Byrnes checking signs from Wash not to swing at the first pitch (he does anyway)

Byrnes leaning in

Charles Thomas steps in

More of Chuck T

Charlie T has a nice compact swing

You know, a lot of Chuck T taking pitches is good

Chuck T putting the ball in play

Durazo beginning the Ruby Shuffle

Durazo about to step into the box

Durazo talking to his feet

I REALLY enjoy pics of A's batters taking pitches, nothing is better

Check swing by Durazo

Durazo singles up the middle

Chuck T on 3rd with Wash

"No dinner plans, yet, you?"

Bobby Kielty did this all day, taking pitches

...and another

...and this pitch

Bobby Kielty on 1st (no batting gloves is the key)

Texas Rangers games suck, Orel and Buck try to out do each other on mound visits, even in Spring

Bobby Crosby got nailed by a pitch. This isn't it.

Crosby singles to left

Some moth, about 4 inches long

Dan Johnson, they call him 'DJ'

Johnson singled to right on this pitch

See, told ya so

Keith Ginter at the plate

DJ gets a free ride ahead of Ginter's homer to left

The International Rules of Speed Walking are clear, at least one foot must touch the ground at all times

Yeah, free sodas

Oreal came out, now Buck wants to come out

Charles Thomas gears up

Thomas checks Wash for the two-run homerun sign

Byrnes scores ahead of Thomas on a two run jack to right

The Rangers look like that a lot

Durazo beginning the Ruby shuffle - more on this later

Durazo waiting for Showalter to get the hell off the field

DJ standing in

Not a repost

Lots of hit batters in this game, not on this pitch, though

If the pitch starts below the knee, you don't have to swing

Johnson singles to center

Justin Duchscherer's wind up 1

Justin Duchscherer's wind up 2

Justin Duchscherer's wind up 3

Justin Duchscherer's wind up 4

More Durazo

And of course, the AP chimes in with another example of their horrible coverage by claiming that "Eric Byrnes had a run-scoring triple". That's pretty hard to do as Eric Byrnes went hitless on the day; Byrnes was 0-for-3 with a walk.

This isn't hard to do, just check the damn box scores, jackasses.

Anyway, the A's are in midseason form, they loaded the bases with nobody out and ended up not scoring a run in the 5th inning,...or maybe it was the 6th. I can't remember, I was too busy checking my watch and updating my portfolio online in the press box in between gorging myself on free food*.

*Actually, it was the 5th, if you can tell, I was using that sense of humor thing..

Okay.

We're heading out to Surprise for the game against the Rangers today. We skipped the A's at Giants yesterday and caught the B Games against the Cubs. Which was much better. If you stand in certain spots you can catch two games at once.

Watched Matt Watson go 3-for-3 with a double and a walk - furthering the notion that sending him down was pointless. With he and Jack Cust in the batting order, any pitcher should be worried.

Kirk Sarloos pitched and looked decent. Six strikeouts in four innings. I'd prefer ground balls, though.

Spoke with Michael Lewis. He put to bed any rumors about an impending movie.

I've got pictures and Kerry has pictures. Kerry doesn't want to show hers until they are formatted...I don't care so I'll put those up tonight after I drop my Mother and Brother off at the airport.

I think we are in section 113 on the 3rd base side. I'll be wearing the away grey with similar shorts.

The Arizona news is plastered with Bush's trip to Arizona and has been giving minute-by-minute breakdowns of his trip since last week. You would think that the Secret Service would want to limit the advance notice to 'evil-doers' and 'enemies of freedom'. But, even so, there they are, breaking in to announce 'news' that Air Force One has landed.

Whatever.

Let's not concentrate on important issues, like why the President is in Arizona, let's muddle and fuzzy the picture so the emphasis shifts to issues like 'Right to Life (if you are a white female)' and steroids in baseball. Not performance enhancing drugs and testing procedures, but just blanket STEROIDS.

Let's call the 'steroids' hunt in baseball what it is; McCarthyism for the new century. One accuser can enable congress to call people to testify against their will, and when the refuse to answer lame, unimportant and grandiose questions so that supposed law makers can grandstand for TV cameras - they can be accused in the press as being guilty...simply because they did not issue blanket denials.

Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?

Do you know Communists, Communist sympathizers and if so, what are their names?

You're stalling, give us names.

And Congress went ridiculous as everyone pointed the finger at Mark McGwire and not at Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa. Bonds, because of his BALCO connections and Sosa because "he doesn't speak English very well". Funny, Sosa seemed to speak fine when he was running around and endorsing products for millions of dollars. He seemed to speak English quite well when he blasted Rick Riley of Sports Illustrated when Riley underhandedly tried to get Sosa to commit to a drug test last year.

Again, steroids and performance enhancing drugs were not against the rules of baseball until 2002 and nothing happened until 2004 if you were caught using anything. Further, baseball has a long been a game where amphetamines (greenies) were a staple in the clubhouse as much as pine tar rags are on the on deck circle. Do we need to rehash the cocaine usage of players in the 1970's and 1980's? And womanizing and alcohol abuse have long been rampant in all professional sports. But, booze is legal and treating woman like toilet paper is fine, especially when you leave behind reminders nine months later.

The difficulty in analyzing the underbelly of any sport is there is a lot of dirt. In every sport. Baseball is no different. They don't test for marijuana in the NBA - why is that? The NFL's drug policy allows the league to suspend a previous violator if they are caught drinking a beer. What kind of commercials do you see on every change of possession in the NFL?

Athletes use performance enhancing drugs and those associated as being steroids for different reasons. Some to repair tissue and some to cheat the muscle growth curve. Others, just to shorten the time between fatigue and recuperation.

In baseball, steroid use was never cheating, no matter what Curt Schilling says. Ask Schilling if he considers scuffing a baseball, or stealing signs 'cheating'. Ask Alex Rodriguez if it's cheating to peek at the catcher relaying the pitch selection to the pitcher during his at-bats.

Should steroids and performance enhancing drugs be against the rules in baseball?

Probably. Simply because unregulated use of any medical product is likely to lead to abuse.

But, should Congress be holding public hearings on a matter they have no power over - baseball's anti-trust was granted by the Supreme Court, not congress, absolutely not.

Let baseball shoulder its own burden. Have Bud Selig and Donald Fehr answer to the future of the game, not to power hungry Senators who call drinking a protein shake - "taking drugs".

Baseball, in some respects has always been a dirty game. Hell, look at who owns today's teams. Even the great stars have been 'dirty', Hank Aaron used greenies, Mickey Mantle was an alcoholic and some say those Vitamin shots weren't all they were cracked up to be. Baseball will be fine.

If you want to argue about leveling the field, who wants that? Where would the Yankees and Red Sox be without the Devil Rays? Where would the Giants be without the Rockies and Diamondbacks?

Just wait a few weeks, this will all blow over, just like Sammy's corked bat and the All Star game and the cancelled season, and Steve Howe, and George Steinbrenner hiring a private eye to spy on Dave Winfield.

Can we play ball, please?

According to the box score line on Yahoo! Sports, Joe Blanton hit a homerun in the 4th inning off Reggie Taylor in the game against the Rockies. Blanton hasn't swung a bat since high school and the A's pitchers are basically told never to swing in Spring Training. Minor misprint there.

The A's are beating the opponents in the split squad games by a combined 14-6.

So, maybe somebdy lit a fire under the A's asses and they are going to start playing decent baseball.

While you were considering your commuting options before leaving work today, I was watching a sausage race. Can't remember who won; does it matter?

Got to see Daric Barton smack a double down the left-field line. Spoke with James Click of BP yesterday, and I agree - Barton has a long swing. But he seems to have tremendous control and can adjust on pitches.

Yesterday at the Cubs v A's game we saw Taggart, Billy Beane's dog, and the host of Studs wandering around acting as cool as Mark DeCarlo could be wearing a Kerry Wood jersey.

Yah, Spring Training is pretty cool.



By the way, thank you to the 163 people who emailed me the last week. I appreciate the thoughts and I will get off my ass and start writing more. And I do have an opinion on Matt Watson's demotion (and the other roster moves) and it's fairly reasonable and well thought out.

It's coming, as soon as the four letter words stop being so frequent.

Also, if you have not been to Spring Training and you are an A's fan...well, you kind of have to have done the prior to be the latter. I know, family, work, money concerns.

Pshaw.

But, until you watch a guy in an A's uniform that you had no idea was on the Spring Training roster - and you made it a point to memorize EVERYONE - then you haven't experienced the rush of flipping open seven different player guides and programs trying to figure out who the guy with a number on his jersey that resembles the symbol for pi...this sentence is running on and the thought died out long before.

Get your arse to AZ and get some sun.

By the way, traffic in Arizona is ridiculous and people drive like they have brain damage caused by the sun.

The Elephants in Oakland Staff Car v2 has 750 miles of bad road on it...

Is it just a coincidence that my roommate I show up and the A's finally break out of their funk?

Probably not. The same thing happened last year on March 17th when we showed up and the A's put a thrashing on the ChiSox.

There's a lot of stuff to get to over the next several days including picking up my family at the airport. I have several people to contact and I'll try to let you know as soon as I do when I can have interviews up on the blog.

Much cooler in AZ than last year - by 20 degrees.

- anonymous

Allen Weiner of What's on Tonight? sent me a link to a video he shot of Huston Street from Sunday. This is the first I've seen Street in an A's uniform and from a non-college perspective. I sent it out to a few others for their reaction. Winner; Will Carroll, "that Longhorn bastard is smooth."

Allen's blog is integrated with audio and video, which is way too cool. If MLB would drop off their blackout/piracy high horse, there'd be a lot of content on the web like this that would make fans drool.

Big thanks to Allen.